Audi F1 star's car catches fire BEFORE Miami race start

Nico Hulkenberg, Audi, Bahrain, 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

Miami Grand Prix Sprint

Audi F1 star's car catches fire BEFORE Miami race start

Disaster strikes for Audi in Miami!

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 2 May 2026 18:03

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F1 star Nico Hulkenberg was unable to even start the Miami Grand Prix sprint race, after a dramatic incident pre-race.

Hulkenberg was completing his lap to the grid when his Audi power unit caught fire, with smoke and flames pouring out of the German's car.

He was able to bring his car to a stop at the side of the circuit, where marshals extinguished the flames, but Hulkenberg's participation in the sprint race was confirmed to be over by Audi racing director Allan McNish, while his participation in grand prix qualifying later on Saturday was also in doubt.

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"We had something in the garage which we thought was sorted out, but clearly there was a problem going to the grid, and we need to get the car back to have a look at it," McNish confirmed to Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz, before Kravitz then asked about qualifying.

"We need to get it back before we can really see," McNish replied.

It meant that Audi had just one car taking to the grid for the start of the Miami GP sprint race, with Gabriel Bortoleto their only hope of scoring points, starting the race from 11th with eighth place good enough for points in a sprint race.

Will Hulkenberg be taking part in qualifying?

After the sprint race action, there will be around three hours before attentions switch to the grand prix, with grand prix qualifying taking place at 4pm local time on Saturday.

It will be a race against time for Audi to figure out what's wrong with Hulkenberg's car and fix it before Q1 is over.

If a completely new power unit is needed, then that is unlikely to be fixed in time, but if it's something more simple, then Audi may just manage to get the German out there.

Audi are in a fortunate position in 2026 in that it's highly likely that four of the six Q1 exit spots will be taken by the two Cadillac cars and the two Aston Martins, meaning just one lap from Hulkenberg could be enough to get into Q2 and a half-decent grid position for Sunday's race.

As for the sprint race, there was an empty grid slot where Hulkenberg's Audi should have been, a bonus for the likes of Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz who qualified directly behind him.